It’s How We Play The Game

I love a good business memoir and Ed Stack’s It’s How We Play The Game hits close to home. Sports were a big deal in my family. When Dick’s Sporting Goods opened a location outside Scranton, we frequented the store. I remember saving up the $90 to buy my Copa Mundials at the Dick’s next to the Viewmont Mall (in the 90's, they were the soccer boot). Dick’s pioneered the concept of a premium sporting goods superstore that served beginner to intermediate athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. Competition in retail is fierce — Stack relates stories of corporate subterfuge, undercover competitor surveillance and a near-fist fight at a trade show with Callaway’s head of sales. Key brand partnerships, product selection and an emphasis on store experience and customer service enabled Dick’s to grow rapidly throughout the 90's and 2000's.

Dick’s outgrew it’s original headquarters in Binghamton, NY and moved to Pittsburgh, my adopted hometown, which is the other connection I have to the company. I’ve worked with plenty of current and former employees of Dick’s corporate headquarters during my MBA studies at Katz and in my work at Expedient. I’ve always appreciated their company culture, which is rooted in applying the competitive spirit of sports to business. They embodied the principle of leadership by taking a stand against the sale of assault rifles (which were pulled from the shelves after the Sandyhook and Parkland shootings) and have helped fund sports programs in underserved communities.

Sports were a big part of my youth and there is no doubt I learned teamwork, discipline and leadership on the soccer pitches and baseball diamonds of NEPA. That idea is a theme in this book and is why it resonated with me.